1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tie rod provided with a locking system at the ends, useable, for example, in a suspension system.
2. State of the Art
Various tie rod types are known and used in a wide array of applications. An example of these applications is the use of tie rods in suspension systems connecting a first element to a second element, such as, for example, a suspension system of the container of a tilting oxygen converter, connecting said container to a support ring.
In these applications, the tie rods are fixed to at least one of the ends by means of ball joints.
The presence of ball joints determines a non-negligible maintenance of the latter, and requires constant greasing and preventive replacement of the joints as a result of the working conditions to which they are subjected.
Furthermore, the tie rods are fixed to fixed end supports, the resting surfaces of which are generally made using low-accuracy machine tools.
Therefore, such resting surfaces have machining errors which imply very rough parallelism tolerances and/or shape irregularities, and consequently the testing surfaces of the end supports of the tie rod may not be perfectly parallel, thus converging, causing a discontinuous resting of the locking elements and consequent clearances which are harmful to resistance to wear and stability of the tie rod.
There may also be errors of distance between the external surface of the first end support and the external surface of the second end support.
It is thus felt the need to make a tie rod which allows to overcome the aforesaid drawbacks.